A new life
by Tanja87
Summary: The Scooby Gang goes to L.A. after Sunnydale got destroyed, but they still have many problems to deal with...
1. Prolog

Prolog 

The dust was still in the air. Buffy felt free. So free like she never did before. During the last few months her whole world had been a terrible fight. Nobody understood her, except Spike. But their, relationship" was too complicated. She had always known that he was loving her, but she wasn't sure about her feelings. Her friends had turned away from her and even Giles had been against her. But now all the pain had really been dissolved to dust. Sunnydale was destroyed.

Buffy looked back at the big hole, where one time had been the city where she had lived for 7 years.

Giles went to the school bus in which already most of the potentials and the rest of the Scooby Gang had returned. When Buffy turned around, entered the bus and sat herself in the back, Dawn followed her, but Buffy looked away. Dawn decided it would be best if she leaves her sister alone for a moment and went to the front, so she wasn't able to see the tears in Buffy's eyes.

Faith was at Wood's side and touched wounds softly in order to not to hurt him.

Giles followed the road in the direction of L.A., without missing the tears, which rolled over Buffy's cheek…


	2. In the hospital

The yellow school bus drove next to the beach, when the sunset began. The girls were exhausted, Willow fought against falling asleep and Buffy had lost so much blood that she was unconscious for almost an hour now. Dawn was sitting next to her and Xander was holding Buffy with her back to him so that she couldn't fall down. Giles decided it would be better if they'd stop t the next hospital and left the highway….

The potentials helped each other to get to the emergency room. Giles took Buffy in his arms and carried her. He hadn't seen her wounds before and wondered now, how she had been able to fight after one Turok-Han had cut her so badly. Buffy seemed so weak. Giles doesn't remember when he had seen her like this the last time.

The doctor sorted the ones who weren't injured that hard out, but when he saw Buffy he told the nurses to come immediately. Giles laid her on a bed on which she was brought to the operating room, while he stood in the middle of the floor. Alone.

Willow and Xander went from one side of the waiting room to the other, while one potential after the other returned. They all got bandages, but all of them seemed to be much better again. Everytime they asked the nurses how Buffy was doing or how long the operation would still take nobody could tell them anything.

" I'm going crazy!" Xander leaned against the wall while Willow was still continuing the circles in the waiting room. "Somebody has to know something! "

Giles finally said something since he joined the others. , It's better to stay calm. If we all get crazy it doesn't help Buffy at all…."

But before someone could add something some doctors finally came into their direction.

" Who belongs to Buffy Summers?"

Giles set himself upright. ,I ,…..uhm, we…all of us."

The doctor who had answered this looked around. , Ok, she will be fine again, but we had to react immediately. " Some girls sighed relieved. Although they had a lot of problems with her they were frightened about her to die.

"But we'll keep her here for some days to observe her state,." The doctor continued, but most didn't even listen anymore, because after all the fighting, pain and fear, everyone got tired after the last strain was gone….


	3. Hungry!

Everything was in chaos. There were crumpled up covers, extra couches, opened out sofas, clothes on the floor,…..Giles was lying in the middle of this mess, on a bed. He had to share a hotel room with some potentials like the others, too, in order to keep an eye on them. Buffy was still in hospital and won't probably be discharged within the next two days.

This morning Dawn, Willow, Faith and Wood went to breakfast with the potentials while Xander, Andrew and Gils preferred to stay in the rooms to today them up a little, like they had told the girls. But to be honest to be together with so many girls the whole day was just too much for them.

During these minutes of silence Giles had to think about Buffy. When he had seen her injured he felt for her again like he did a long time ago, like he would be her father. But before……her kind of thinking, her ideas to win the battle against the First had just seemed to be so crazy that he felt like she would be a foreigner. He couldn't understand her and his biggest problem had been Buffy's relationship to Spike, which had always been incomprehensible for him. Spike's a murderer and he had hurt Buffy so deeply,…..how could she still have feelings for him !

Giles' thoughts got interrupted when Xander entered the room.

"Did you know that you need only one eye to watch cartoons?"

"Well, not yet, but that's an interesting information." Giles murmured while he sat himself up.

"How do you feel?"

Xander made free the way to the bathroom by pushing away some clothes with his shoe. " As fine as you can feel when you lost one eye."

Giles took his glasses off to clear them, although it wasn't necessary at all. Andrew, who had been outside came in with a big brown bag in his arms.

"Did you know there's a supermarket at the end of the street? "

The answer were two men taking the bag. One searching for Soft Cakes and the other one for chocolate…


	4. Missing

„Beep,….beep" the monitors next to the bed were showing a regular heart rhythm, while Buffy was sleeping. Her wounds were healing as fast as always, but this time it weren't only her injuries, which made her breaking down.

She missed him. With every breath she took the pain didn't pass away, it even got worse. Now she felt stupid for her not noticing sooner.and that she had treated him so badly. When she finally knew clearly how she was feeling for him it had been too late. Too late, that was it what made her life so cruel. Everytime she had been too late. When Jesse died, when Angel opened Acathla, when her mother…and now Spike…..

Buffy woke up with tears on her cheeks. It had been the same dream like she had every night after Sunnydale got destroyed. She wiped away the tears and when she looked up, she saw Dawn sitting in the floor, waiting for the nurses to allow her to come in.

"Dawn?"

Her sister looked up. She smiled, stood up and walked to Buffy.

"How are you?"

"Better." was the short answer.

Dawn sat down on the chair next to the bed. " Giles is going crazy out there."

Buffy had to smile. "I think so. Giles in the same bedroom with teenage girls…this must be his nightmare…"

Xander sat on the terrace in front of their bedrooms. Giles was inside; reading some books he got at the little shop at the corner, when he bought is Soft Cakes, which Andres had forgotten. The girls were still away for what Xander was very grateful. Andrew tired to bring the TV to work, but her wasn't very successful.

Xander was alone. So alone like he had never been in years. There had always been someone to talk to, Buffy, Willow, Anya. He was still sure that it had been right no to marry her, but he never stopped loving her. Her death had been a shock for him, but he was proud of her. Anya didn't run away, she fought side by side with the good ones, regretted everything bad she had done and had even started to like people.

Now he sweared to never forget her in his whole life and the memory of her made him weak…..


	5. Leaving

He was wet. The rain made him as wet like he had fallen into a river. He didn't know where he was. Or why he was there. Inside him he felt nothing. The only thing he felt was the hard concrete. He was laying in a dark street. Around him were buildings, as high like skyscrapers. In the corners were rubbish containers he heard rats somewhere and from time to time he could even see some lights passing one end of the street. But it took him some time to realize that the lights were cars and that he was in a dead end. He stood up. Staggered a little and made his way to the end of the street. He doesn't remember much. Only a lovely voice, saying,I love you" …….

Willow, Dawn, Xander and Giles were standing in the floor of the hospital, waiting for Buffy. She was allowed to go home today. The only problem was that they all had no home anymore. Willow had tried to call her parents who had already left Sunnydale after the first times of a new apocalypse. Xander wasn't even interested in finding his parents and Giles had never thought about his friends in England since Buffy broke down.

Buffy was still in her room at the hospital, waiting for the doctor to look after her for the last time. She couldn't wait to leave. Although she had already spent some days in hospital after the death of her cousin she still hated hospitals. To stay in one gave her the feeling of being helpless. And she never liked that feeling.

Finally the doctor entered. He was ca. 50 years old and had a strange accent. Could be Croatian or some other country in this direction, Buffy wasn't sure.

, Morning"

" Hi! When can I go?"

The doctor raised one eyebrow and took some papers in his hands, which were lying next to her bed.

" You don't like hospitals very much, am I right?" he asked, while he was looking at her values. " Well, I think you can leave us in some minutes. Just take care of not being injured again so soon, ok?"

Buffy smiled. " Never wanted to." When he leaved again she stood up, got her bag which she had already packed days ago and went to the reception to get her papers, which would allow her to go.

Xander was driving the car, while Giles was sitting next to him. The girls were sitting in the back. Dawn was hugging Buffy for the 7th time and Willow just smiled from one ear to the other.

" Could you please drive a little bit slower!" Giles said, holding himself at the door.

Xander smiled "Let me guess, you English people drive like snails…."

"That's not the right time for "old England jokes" !" Giles answered and finally got relaxed, when Xander drove less fast. Buffy, who was sitting between Willow and Dawn started to feel a lot better than she did in the hospital. She didn't even knew what made her feel so uncomfortable there. The only thing she knew was that it hadn't only been her dislike of hospitals in general……


	6. Welcome

„Bang" The door of the gray jeep closed. Today the Scooby Gang had brought the last potential to the airport of Ventura. Even Kennedy had gone home to see her parents, but she had promised Willow to come to L.A. soon. Giles quickly got the wheel and received a strange look of Xander when he had seen this. Dawn was sitting in the back, with some papers on which they had written addresses of almost all the potentials, because Dawn had found a lot of good friends in them. Buffy and Willow sat themselves on the backseats, too when Xander took his place next to a glasses cleaning Giles.

" I want to be in L.A. before the next apocalypse, ok?"

Giles put his glasses back upon his nose. " I don't know what you talking about…" Buffy raised one eyebrow and Xander laughed when he saw that, but Giles himself didn't notice it, he was too busy with starting the motor…

After 1 hour of Giles and Xander fighting about who's the better driver they finally arrived in the big city. L.A. Buffy had called Angel some days ago to tell him that they were coming. Willow told Giles the way and although he took the wrong street a couple of times they arrived at Angels house before 10 pm.

Buffy ringed at the door. Nothing happened. She ringed again. Again nothing happened. When she wanted to ring a third time a tired looking Angel opened the door.

"Thought you would come earlier!"

"Well, Giles was driving!" Buffy couldn't help herself to get rid of her sarcastic jokes…

Angel nodded. " That explains everything." Both smiled.

But before the situation could get to private Giles climbed the stairs with some bags in his hands.

" Good evening Angel." He putted the bags at the floor. " I'm sorry that we are a little late. Where can I put the bags?"

Angel shared one look with Buffy before he entered the house, with Giles following him.

After everybody had put their stuff in the different rooms where they were supposed to sleep in they met at the kitchen. Angel was cooking a meal for them…Buffy was too surprised about that to say anything when she came into the room.

" Tired?"

" Mhm?" Buffy had to shake her head. That Angel was cooking had just been to strange for her that she didn't hear what he had said.

" Ok, you are tired." Angel said.

" A little."

" Lair"

Buffy smiled." You always didn't believe me about being tired or not. By the way, where are all the others?"

Angel, who had been standing with his profile to her turned around. " They don't live with me anymore. They all got own apartments some months ago and now it's pretty practical for us."

"That smells good!" Dawn said when she came in. " I didn't know that you can cook!"

" Well, seems like L.A. is full of surprises for us!" Buffy answered.


	7. Bad dream ?

Buffy felt comfortable. The room she had gotten was in the back of the building. No sounds of traffic, no lights from the street. Only silence.

Buffy felt relieved. It had been so long that she had to share everything with so many people. Her whole house, her bedroom and the worst of all….her bathroom! Now it already seemed like a wonder for her, that she had a whole room just for her alone.

She putted her clothes on the chair, which was standing in front of the window. Opened the covers and slipped into the bed. Before her head had hit the cushion, all the strain passed away from her and she fall asleep.

The street was dark. It was raining. Buffy didn't know where she was, but she was sure that it had a reason why she was here. There was someone lying on the street. The person was wearing a long black coat so she couldn't see the heads from where she was standing. Buffy went closer. After a few steps she could see blond short hair. Tears were running down her face when she recognized him. SPIKE.

He didn't move, but when she wanted to touch him she got torn more and more away from him.

"Spike!" she shouted, but she was already too far away. She closed her eyes.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a long floor. There were some lights at the walls, but they couldn't break through the darkness, which was like a big carpet. Buffy walked along the floor and arrived at a little room with a bed in it. She realized that this room must belong to a hospital, but before she could think more about it she got torn away again. But this time it didn't stop anymore. Buffy was already feeling strangely, like she would have to vomit or something when a gloomy voice whispered: "It's not over yet!"

Buffy was sitting in her bed. She was breathing hardly and the covers were wet from her sweat. When she covered her eyes with her hands she could still feel some tears.

"Calm down!" she whispered. "It had just been a dream." But the same time she said that she wasn't that sure about that.


	8. Signs

When Buffy climbed down the stairs to the dining room, Giles, Willow and Xander were sitting at the table.

"Morning!"

"Morning Buffy!" Giles said. " How was your sleep?" he asked while he was gabbing for the butter.

Buffy sat down on the chair next to him. "Good" she lied.

Giles raised one eyebrow in surprise. "Really?"

Buffy looked at him and said empathic " Yeah".

Willow and Xander, who didn't really know what was going on, looked confused at each other.

"Well, I've slept pretty good, too." Xander said in order to help Buffy who obviously started to feel uncomfortable.

Giles took his cup of tea up. "I know."

Xander stopped eating. "How do you…?"

"I've heard your snore!"

Willow and Buffy had to laugh, while Xander tried to overplay that this was embarrassing for him by taking another piece of bread…

The sun was too high for him. He was hiding in the sewerage system for hours. When the sun was rising, he still hadn't discovered where he was, although he knew that he must be in a bigger city.

But the question where he was wasn't the most important thing to him. Spike wondered more about WHY he was here. He should be dead. In his eyes he even deserved to be dead, after all the things he had done. After everything he'd done to her…..

Somewhere a rat was running through the tunnels. But Spike didn't care. It didn't matter to him. Nothing mattered to him, except one person….

The rat crossed Spikes leg, but he didn't react to it. He was too concentrated in thinking about how he could find her.

"Buffy…"

At a drier place a man was sitting in the dust. He was wearing a long black habit. Although it was in the middle of the day and the sun was burning from the sky. The man was surrounded by a circle of red dust. In front of him was an old book. The page, which was opened, showed exact that circle the man was sitting in. Under the picture there was a text in Latin. The man closed his eyes, when he started to say the words from his memory. He had read this text that often that he had memorized every single word. Every pronunciation, although he couldn't hide his Croatian accent.

Some minutes passed, while he was sitting there, saying the words again and again, but nothing happened.

"Shit!"


	9. Reunion

When Buffy left the house with Dawn she was nervous. It had been so long since she had heard something from him and he didn't even show up after the death of her mother. Dawn seemed to be nervous too, because she was stuttering all the time.

"Do..do you th..think he will be happy to see us again?"

" Well, if not, we can leave pretty quickly!" Buffy answered unsure what was the best thing to say. She didn't even know why she was going to see him once again after all what had happened.

When they finally arrived at the address, which Buffy had found in the telephone book, both were surprised. Already the fact that the address of their father had changed was new for them, but this was even more surprising. The house they were standing in front of wasn't like the little house they had lived in when their parents weren't divorced. It was gigantic. In front of the Villa stood two big jeeps and through a fence you could see that there was a swimming pool in the back of the house.

"This can't be the right address!" Dawn said

"Well, there was only one Hank Summers who wasn't over 70 in the register." Buffy answered.

"But our father….? It's impossible that he has become such rich." Dawn murmured. "I mean, you know him!"

Buffy breathed out. "Yes, I know about what you're talking. The possibility that he moved to Africa is more possible then he getting more money as the…. a librarian! "Now she looked into Dawn's eyes. „There's one way to find out if he's the right one."

30 seconds after saying that she was standing at the front door and ringed the bell. If the house hadn't impressed her the ring tone did definitely. It wasn't this usual ringing you could here in almost every house. Instead of that a song by Mozart was sounding through the rooms.

After a few seconds a 30-year-old woman opened the door. "Good Morning!" she said friendly, but distrustful.

"Hi, I'm Buffy….Summers."

"Oh!" the woman said surprised.

"Does Hank Summers live here?"

"Ähm,…yeah, wait I'll get him." She said and closed the door.

Buffy turned around to Dawn, who was watching her from a tree only 10 meters away. Suddenly Buffy could hear loud voices in the house.

"You never told me that you have a daughter!" an angry female voice said while coming closer to the door.

"Well, we never said that we don't have secrets, do we?" a familiar male voice answered.

"Don't talk to me like that!….Oh now I see. Is she your wife? Or your fiancée?" the woman asked even more excited as before.

" Honey, now stop it, ok? I'll talk to her, MY DAUGHTER, that's all." He answered a little bit sensitive. "I don't even know what she wants from me."

Buffy had leaned her ear at the door, but walked 1 meter away from it when she realized that someone would open the door again within the next seconds.

Hank opened the door and looked at Buffy.

"Hi."

"Hi,…Dad." She said. Although she had been disappointed by him she was happy to see him again.

"What are you doing here?"

"Dawn and I moved here some days ago."

" Do you need money?" he interrupted her brashed.

Buffy was a little bit shocked about him asking this, especially this early."No, we don't need money." She answered a little bit angry." We,…I just wanted to see you again."

Hank looked down and Buffy got the impression that this situation was embarrassing for him. "You didn't show up at the burial of mom." She continues quietly.

He seemed to be even more embarrassed. " I had too much work…and to be honest the situation hasn't changed that much."

"Oh."

"I have to get to work now." Hank said, going to disappoint Buffy again." But it would be nice if we three could eat something together one day."

Buffy smiled. "Yes, would be nice."

"Goodbye" He walked to one jeep, got in and drove out of the backyard, but before he was driving away he turned around and waved his hand….


	10. Trouble

It was dark. Spike was walking through the streets, until he found a map. He couldn't read much, because there was graffiti on it. But the sprayers left enough space that he could read Los Angel..on the top of it.

„Puh, for goods sake!" he said. I die and come back at California again! Hey, what about Europe? Spike turned around when an old man crossed the street with a shopping cart. „What the hell am I doing here?" He whispered. But then he got an idea. If he's in L.A. and Buffy didn't leave California, she probably got here. He remembered that she once told him that her father still lives her and there is Angel...Angel..Spike never liked him. His Art to get the woman by convincing them of his mysterious being was too strange for him. He had never really found out what women like about him. Especially Buffy. She could have every man she wanted. But him?

Spike's thoughts about Angel got interrupted when he heard a siren. The police was only two streets away from him and he thought it would be better to leave quickly before they would see him and ask themselves what he was doing here.

Spike went into the nearest street and after a few blocks he arrived at a tram station. He took the next train to the center, from where he wanted to find the hotel where Angel once lived. He had never been there, only in the little office where Angel was working at the very beginning, but Willow once told Buffy where the hotel was and how 'wonderful' everything there was. Buffy had been excited about that and couldn't avoid talking about it with Spike, so he probably knew more about it like everyone living in L.A. together.

The train stopped in the middle of the street." What the devil..?"

Three men, wearing black clothes entered the train and threatened the driver with a gun. „Free ticket!" one man said and Spike could already hear that this guy was drunk. The driver got nervous and let them pass. They putted away the guns and walked at the end of the train. When they passed Spike the other man barged him.

„Hey, I know you!" he slured. „ You're the lover of my ex girlfriend! I always knew that she was betraying me, but you...!"

Spike leaned back. „ Don't know what you're talking about."

„Hey, I know what I know, ok? And I still have to deal with you!" the man continued, while his friends where calling him from the back.

„Mike, let it be!

„You don't tell me what I'm allowed to do or not, ok!" he shouted at them.

Spike just wanted to stay out of the trouble, but Mike didn't stop. Now he wasn't attacking him verbal anymore, he started to kick against Spikes foot.

„Stop it !" Spike grumbeld. "Stop it!" he shouted when Mike continued.

But the man still didn't realize that this was the wrong guy and that he had obviously crossed the border already.

Spike was tired and these guys cost him the last nerve. He wanted to show his vampire face to make Mike scared of him, but it didn't work. He just snarled, but it didn't sound like it used to do.

Spike was confused. This can't be true.

The two friends of Mike came back and took him with them when they left the train.

Spike was to concentrated on thinking what was going on to notice that and he didn't watch out for the station he wanted to go to either. His head leaned against the window when it started to rain.

„Buffy...where are you?"


	11. What about the money?

Xander danced through the kitchen. Andrew was sitting at the table in the middle of the room. Looking depressed.

„You only won because I didn't have the wish master card!"

Xander stopped dancing to open the fridge. „ Hehe, everyone is trying to find a reason after losing against me!" he gabbed some orange juice. „Why don't you just accept that I'm the king?"

Andrew smiled.

Angel came into the kitchen. „Hey guys!"

Xander turned around to him. „ Hey Angel, wanna play with us?" he showed at the cards which were lying on the table.

Angel raised one eyebrow, while watching citically at the game. „No thanks."

Giles looked up from his book. He was sitting in the living room and had heard all of the conversation.

„You should really stop playing this game! It's prosperous!"

Xander and Andrew looked at him. „What!"

Dawn opened sweeping the door.

Giles stood up. „Did you find him?"

Buffy came through the door and answered for her sister. „Yeah, we did." Dawn who had taken her seat in the corner closed her eyes. „And he's rich..." she murmured.

„What? Really?" Xander said surprised.

„Seems so." Buffy answered while sitting down at the table.

Giles went to Buffy and putted an arm on her shoulder. „Well, that could solve your money problems." Buffy raised one eyebrow while looking at him.

„The fact that he has enough money doesn't mean that he'd help us."

Giles cleaned his glasses again „Well, there are different ways to get money from him. Don't forget that Dawn's still underage!"

Dawn cleared her throat when she had heard that. „Hey, I'm here!"

„We didn't search for him only to get money from him." Buffy ended the discussion and left the kitchen.

Croatia 1774. In Zadar a group of young men was leaving a pub near the harbor. All of them were drunk and didn't notice the black Gestalt, which stood at the corner of a dark dead end. The men started singing. Except these false singing voices there was nothing to hear when the dark creature left the corner and passed the group. They were too drunk to realize that after this walking by one of them was missing. The black man had taken one and hided in behind an old tank, pushing a hand on the young man to make him unable to scream. After the others were gone he hurt his victim so that he lost consciousness. Then he walked away, pulling the man behind him at his feet. After some minutes the only sign that there had happened anything was the red blood trace on the ground.


	12. Future?

The sunset was wonderful. Today the typical smog of L.A. didn't hide the sun tonight. Angel was sitting on top of the hotel, thinking...

"Nice view." Buffy said, who just climbed up the stairs.

„Yeah. Nothing better than that" he said, showing to the red sky.

Buffy sat down next to him. „ Yeah, nothing better."

„How are you?" Angel asked, but this phrase didn't sound like this typical sentence you use when you don't know how to start a conversation.

Buffy looked in his eyes. „ I'm fine."

„Liar." He replied. „You've never been able to hide the truth from me."

Buffy looked at her hands, which were lying in her lap, while Angel continued. „ Something's wrong. You not okay at all. I know that. I can feel it."

Buffy jerked at this last sentence, which Spike had used once.

„Even if it would be like this I couldn't tell ya."

Angel squinted. That she was having secrets and doesn't even want to tell him what was wrong had hurt him although he hadn't expected it.

„Ok. You just have to know that you can always talk to me if you want to."

Then he stood up and went back inside. Buffy stayed at her seat, looking at the sky. She had managed to forget him for a while. For only some hours, but already this had helped her much. And now,...this one phrase had been like a shock for her. Everything came back to her mind. Her memory, everything they had gone through together...

Buffy wiped away the tears and stood up. It wouldn't change anything if she was crying. She got angry with herself. Why seemed everything in her life so complicated and painful?  
Tomorrow she wanted to change her life. She wanted to find a job. And her father had called this afternoon. So she and her sister will go to a restaurant with him. Maybe Giles was right and he could really give them some money. One the one hand she was too proud to accept money from her father, but on the other hand her father really should help them. At least Dawn. Dawn... she'll have her first day at the new high school next week. And that would also mean an explosion of costs. New books, clothes and so on...willow and her wanted to go shopping this weekend anyway, but for all this Buffy needed money,...which she didn't have at the moment. The care of the potentials had cost almost all of her money and before she didn't even have much.

Maybe she should really try to get some money from her father until she has a job...


	13. Family dinner

Buffy was tired. She had been searching for a job the whole day. First she had read all the advertisement in the newspapers and had called different organizations, but nothing. Whether they wanted only people who had finished college or the job was already given to someone else. „Damn it!" she had said too often today.

Now it was 5 pm and she had to change for the dinner tonight. Dawn had been in the city with Willow and Buffy had been happy about that. Her sister didn't have to sit around here all the time and see how unsure their future was. So Buffy had enough time to think about what she could do. She had realized that there was no other choice than taking some money from her father, it just takes too long until she gets a job.

Buffy put on a red top and some blue jeans. She was wearing her hair in a ponytail and thought about wearing some ear rings, but dropped the idea when Dawn came in. „Ready´?" her sister said, wearing brown trousers and a white Blouse.

„Yeah."

They went down the stairs, said goodbye to Giles, Xander and Willow who were sitting in the living room, playing cards, and left.

After 5 minutes they arrived at the park where they wanted to meet their father. He was even punctual. They got in the car, Buffy in the front and Dawn in the back.

„Hi!" they said.

„Hi!" he answered with a smile. „Nice to see you again."

After three courses and a lot of superficial talking Buffy finally thought it would be the right situation to ask her father for the money. Dawn had gone for the toilet some minutes ago and Hank had started to ask Buffy about her plans here.

„I've been searching for a job today."

„And? Found any?"

„To be honest no, and..."

Hank didn't seem to be surprised at all. „And you need money..."

Buffy hated him for saying that like he hadn't expected anything else. Hank putted down his napkin, with which he had cleaned his mouth before.

„Well, I can give you some...but only under one condition."

Buffy looked in his eyes." What?" she said demanding.

„That you go to college again."

Buffy started to protest, but Hank didn't listen." And you'll finish it! If not I'll stop giving you money immediately!" He said and got even louder at the end.

Buffy was angry. He was her father, he wasn't there all the years and now he's thinking he's able to make the rules?

„You can't..."

Hank got a little bit more socialbe when he saw the anger in his daughter's eyes. „You need it. Look, I'll pay for your education and I know you don't want to take my help."

Buffy was still angry but also a little bit surprised about this offer. Sure she could play the strong woman who doesn't need any help, but it wasn't only about her.

„Ok. But I'll pay everything back!"


End file.
